Record 500,000 Poles Register to Vote Abroad in Sunday's Elections
Over half a million Poles residing outside of Poland have registered to vote in the parliamentary elections taking place in the country on Sunday, October 15. According to local press reports, this number surpasses the population of Poland's sixth-largest city, Gdańsk, and could significantly impact the election outcomes, as reported by Euronews.
"Four years ago, there were 314,000 voters registered abroad. Currently, their number stands at 560,000," said Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zbigniew Rau, on Tuesday. He added that this figure will be a historical record for Poland.
Rau also mentioned concerns that the polling stations abroad might struggle to accommodate such a large number of voters due to the overwhelming response from Polish citizens living abroad. As a result, the country had to increase the number of foreign electoral commissions by 70%.
In Sunday's elections, the opposition party led by Donald Tusk, the "Civic Coalition," will challenge the ruling party "Law and Justice," which has been in power since 2015.
According to the results of the latest sociological survey conducted by the Polish company Kantar for TVN and TVN24, and presented on Thursday, October 12, "Law and Justice" is projected to secure 173 seats in parliament, the "Civic Coalition" is expected to gain 150 seats, the "Third Way" party is forecasted to get 52 seats, the "New Left" party is predicted to have 48 seats, and the "Confederation" is anticipated to have 36 seats. Although "Law and Justice" enjoys the highest level of support, even with the backing of the "Confederation," it is unlikely to have a chance to form a government, as the opposition can count on 250 seats, while "Law and Justice" and the "Confederation" together only have 209.
Another sociological survey, conducted by IBRiS on October 9-10 for "Rzeczpospolita" and RMF radio, shows that the largest number of voters, as before, wish to vote for "Law and Justice" at 33.5%. The "Civic Coalition" is supported by 28% of respondents. The "Third Way" party holds third place in the survey with 10.9%, "New Left" is in fourth place with 10.1%, and "Confederation" ranks fifth with 9.2% support from respondents.
For more details on the upcoming elections in Poland, you can read The Gaze's coverage.